Manufacture of multi-layered electronic parts using tapes involves lamination. During lamination various ceramic green tape layers are stacked together and formed into a ceramic laminate (“monolith”) using heat and/or pressure. Certain strategies have also been developed requiring the use of heat and/or pressure in the attempt to minimize area (XY plane) shrinkage.
In one known method, one or more ceramic green tape layers are stacked and laminated using either a uniaxial or an isostatic press. A typical lamination requires temperatures of 50 to 120° C. and pressures of 500 to 7000 psi. The laminating temperature and pressure are optimized to fuse the tape layers together. For an isostatic lamination, the additional step of vacuum bagging is also required.
Another known method involves using a pressure sensitive adhesive layer to bond tape layers together to reduce or eliminate the need for elevated lamination pressure and temperature. After the lamination step, parts are typically cut (“singulation”) and fired. The ceramic tape laminate shrinks during the binder removal and firing cycle. The tape shrinkage is typically greater than 10% in the X and Y plane directions and greater than 15% in the Z (thickness) direction. In this known method, the tape shrinkage depends on various factors including the setters, firing profile, tape inorganic composition, tape laminate density, binder amount, metal content of the package, and glass powder properties such as oxide content and particle size distribution. The tight shrinkage control required for certain multi-layered circuits is difficult to achieve due to the number of factors affecting shrinkage during firing for systems containing tapes and inks. Thus, there is room for improvement in the art.